Sabiá

• Songbird, thrush.

Sabiá cantou / Lá no pé da laranjeira
The songbird sang / Up in the orange tree

Saber

• To know.

Quem não conhece a capoeira, não sabe o seu valor
Whoever is unfamiliar with capoeira, doesn’t know its value

Saci

• A character in Brazilian folklore: he is a one-legged elf who smokes a pipe and wears a magical red cap. There are three types of Saci: the Saci Pererê, which is black; the Saci Trique, which is lighter-skinned; and the Saci Saçurá, which has red eyes. The Saci is a solitary creature that lives alone in the forest; he is considered a mischievous and sometimes malevolent character.

Eu vi Saci Pererê / Com uma perna jogar capoeira
I saw Saci Pererê / Playing capoeira with just one leg

Sair

• To leave, to exit, to retreat.

Sai, sai, Catarina / Saia do mar venha ver Idalina
Leave, leave, Catarina / Leave the sea and come see Idalina

Salvador

• The capitol of the state of Bahia, and the capitol of Brazil from 1549 to 1763. It is known as the "cradle of capoeira," since it was the only city in which the art survived the intense police persecution of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Salvador has a large population of Brazilians of African descent and is internationally recognized as a center of Afro-Brazilian culture.

Capoeira! É jogo praticado na terra de São Salvador
Capoeira! It's a game practiced in the land of Salvador

Se

• If.

Se eu da Bahia eu me cansar / Vou m'embora pra lá pra Luanda
If I get tired of Bahia / I'll go away, over there to Luanda

Sem

• Without.

Eu tava lá em casa, sem pensar nem imaginar
I was there in my house, without thinking or imagining

Sempre

• Always.

Muitos anos se passaram / E o negro sempre a lutar
Many years passed / And the black man always battling

Sangue

• Blood.

Tá no sangue da raça brasileira, capoeira é da nossa cor
It’s in the blood of the Brazilian race, capoeira is of our color

Santo - Santa

• Saint.

Santo Antônio é protetor da barquinha de Noê
Saint Anthony is the protector of Noah’s little ark

Senzala

• 1) Slave quarters.
• 2) Grupo Senzala, a capoeira group that formed in Rio de Janeiro in the 1960s.

Jogo de liberdade, jogo de libertação
Praticado na senzala na era da escravidão
Game of freedom, game of liberation
Practiced in the slave quarters in the era of slavery

Ser

• To be. Conjugates in the present as sou-é-somos-são, in the past as fui-foi-fomos-foram, and in the past imperfect as era-era-éramos-eram.

Eu não sou daqui, marinheiro sou
I am not from here, I am a sailor

Foi no clarão da lua, eu vi acontecer
It was in the moonlight, I saw it happen

Era eu, era meu mano
It was me, it was my brother

Sereia

• Mermaid.

Minha sereia, rainha do mar, não deixe meu barco virar
My mermaid, queen of the sea, don’t let my boat overturn

Sertão

• Semi-arid backlands, countryside of Brazil.

Tabaréu que vem do sertão / Vendendo maxixe, quiabo, e limão
Tabaréu who comes from the countryside / Selling gherkins, okra, and lime

Sim

• Yes.

Ô sim sim sim, ô não não não
Oh yes yes yes, oh no no no

Sinal

• Sign.

Eu pisei na cobra verde / Cobra verde é um bom sinal
I stepped on a green snake / A green snake is a good sign

Sinhô - Sinhá

• Master.

Vou dizer ao meu sinhô que a manteiga derramou
I will tell my master that the butter spilled

Siri

• A little crab.

Foi no balanço, foi no remelejo
Eu vi o siri derrubar carangueijo
It was in the swinging, in the swaying
I saw the little crab knock the bigger crab down

Só

• Only, just, alone.

Iaiá mandou dar uma volta só
The master’s daughter ordered just one more round

Jogue comigo com muito cuidado / Você só apanha se for mal-criado
Play with me very carefully / You’ll only get beaten up if you’re rude

Soltar

• To free, to let loose.

Solta a mandinga ê solta a mandinga á
Let loose the magic, let loose the magic